April 2007 Archive

Normally, I don’t care about upcoming projects and leave that to the trades. But a Peter Jackson writing/directing project is an event. Sources tell me that today certain Hollywood studios were given the big PJ spec script with Mr. Lord Of the Rings himself attached to helm. It’s an adaptation of The Lovely Bones, the bestseller penned by Alice Sebold. “It went out today to almost everybody and the offers are across the board,” a source tells me. “That’s because there was… Read

To movie industry heathens like you and me, we'll always remember where we were when Mel Gibson made his drunken anti-Semitic tirade, when Tom Cruise got fired by old coot Sumner Redstone, and when the 2007 Summer Movie Season made $4.5 billion. That's how much I’m told box office gurus predict the mega-blockbusters about to flood U.S. mega-plexes from May through August will gross, becoming the highest summer on record. And many of the movies look to be not completely… Read

Given everyone’s horrible behavior in Hollywood, it’s rare to find something that scandalizes its denizens who’ve seen it all. But Michael Ovitz managed to do just that last week when he failed to show for longtime CAA colleague Ray Kurtzman’s funeral. Ray, one of the most respected guys in showbiz, died of complications from Alzheimer’s last Monday and was buried at Hillside Memorial Park. I’m told that as many as 600 to 700 people came to the service for Kurtzman — but… Read

In major cities around the country, Sony has quietly added lots of Thursday midnight showings of Spider-Man 3. Most of the sneaks start at 12:01 AM — so technically that’s Friday, which is the official day Spidey is released in U.S. venues. And in some major megaplexes, like Pacific’s The Grove Stadium 14 in Los Angeles, screenings will start at 12:01 AM, 12:05 AM, 12:10 AM, 12:15 AM and 12:20 AM. Obviously the studio is doing everything it can to ensure the threequel… Read

Obviously, Lionsgate has yet to find a horror flick too sick or twisted to sell. I’m told the indie studio is still going ahead with plans to release its bloodfest film about the torture and killings of college coeds on a trip to Europe even though the Virginia Tech tragedy is still fresh in the headlines. Hostel: Part II will open on June 8th. (It was originally supposed to open in January but was pushed back to March and then pushed back again.) The movie’s trailer… Read

Obviously, Donald Trump and Arnold Schwarzenegger think we just fell off the turnip truck and are gullible as hell. Political campaign watchdogs are up in arms over the fact that The Donald just gave $10,000 to The Arnold to help pay off $2.3 million in campaign debts left over from his 2006 re-election bid and that the hand-out came after the Guvinator guest-starred on Trump’s disgustingTV show The Apprentice: Los Angeles. (Schwarzenegger hosted five of the show’s… Read

The CBS’ Nielsen-topping series CSI and its NYC and Miami spin-offs are having a profound effect on juries, trials and law enforcement. But is hair and fibre analysis actually passé in crime-fighting? That’s the basis for Jeffrey Toobin’s article in the upcoming New Yorker. because of the show, “criminalists have acquired an air of glamour, and its practitioners an aura of infallibility … But the fictional criminalists speak with a certainty that their real-life… Read

SUNDAY AM: So Nicolas Cage is back to making bomb after bomb after bomb, with his Revolution / Paramount pic Next unable to open better than 4th place, behind a three-week-old teen/tween movie and a suspense film starring nobodies. With a paltry per screen average at 2,725 theaters, it was hard pressed to even make $7 mil this weekend. Clearly the only reason anyone went to see Cage’s Ghost Rider was because of the connection to the Marvel comic book. Other than that, he… Read

I’m told Frank Langella, who’s so brilliant as Tricky Dick in Peter Morgan’s Frost/Nixon play, is going to snag the movie version as well. This means Warren Beatty won’t be playing the role of the disgraced President interviewed by David Frost. (I already knocked down the Internet rumor that Imagine’s Ron Howard had a deal, or was close to a deal, with Warren.) Smart to go with the guy who originated the role in London and on Broadway. That almost never happens in… Read

Think of it as the quiet before the storm: Expect a lackluster movie weekend before the sizzling Summer Movie Season officially kicks off the following Friday with Spider-Man 3. With no significant competition, Paramount’s Next with Nicolas Cage should finish this Friday-Saturday-Sunday as No. 1 with low teens, as in millions. But its reviews were lousy, so maybe not. (This is a Revolution / Paramount pic, as compared to the many DreamWorks pics which Paramount has been… Read